Lectures and Site Visits
IFDS lectures and site visits are given at a mix of academic environments and field locations. Please note the following listings are tentative and subject to change:
Women and law in Jordan
Laws, such as the Labor law and the Social Security Law, to name a few only, have been redrafted and amended in the last two decades in Jordan to take into account women’s needs and rights as citizens. These laws as well as many more and the difficulties in their implementation will be examined at length.
Guest Speakers:
Site Visit: Social Security Bureau; a court or a new agency that will be dealing precisely with the so-called crimes of honor.
Women and politics: Jordan’s parliament and women’s representation
Women in public domain politics in the Arab World will be explored. We will focus in particular on the connections between local activism at the communal level and active participation in government, and the ways these connections (or lack thereof) may be manifested in our daily life
Site Visit: A visit to the Jordanian parliament
Women and Islam
For decades, “third world” women – particularly Arab and Muslim women – have been typically represented in “Western” discourses as poor, uneducated, family-oriented, traditional, victimized by religion (“Islam”) and by men in patriarchal societies. These representations seem to have gained momentum after the events of September 11, 2001 and the subsequent American intervention in Afghanistan and Iraq. It is no secret that “the veil” in all of its cultural variations (hijab, niqab, burqa, chador, purdah, etc.) has come to epitomize – particularly in Western eyes – that supposed oppression, victimization, and invisibility. Women’s positionality in Islam will be examined and their diverse roles will be explored.
Site Visit: King Hussein Mosque
Women, work, and the professions
Discussion will focus on the relationship between economics and agency for women in Jordan, and on the effect of work (both paid and unpaid; both formal and informal) on women’s leadership roles at all levels (family, community, as well as local and national government).
Site Visit:
Women and Creativity
Examine how women have used creative expression, mainly arts and literature, as a means of both engaging with their communal identities and subjectivity, and effecting change.
Site Visit: Art gallery Tour; Tyche Magazine
So-called Crimes of Honor
Site Visit: Family Protection Unit
